Cyber and digital get over £1bn to enhance UK’s national security
The government has set out plans to spend over a billion pounds on digital and cyber warfare capabilities to enhance the UK’s ability to defend itself and fight offensive wars
Cyber warfare and digital defence will be the recipients of a £1bn-plus investment over the coming years to create a Digital Targeting Web (DTW) for frontline troops and a Cyber and Electromagnetic Command that will oversee cyber operations for defence, the government announced as it released its long-awaited strategic defence review (SDR).
Much of the headline focus of the SDR, which was officially launched on Monday 2 June by prime minister Keir Starmer in a speech delivered at a Glasgow shipyard, centred on so-called kinetic warfare.
In his speech, Starmer set out plans to raise Britain’s defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and 3% in the next Parliament, promised pay rises to the armed forces, and pledged to spend on enhanced weaponry and a “hybrid” Royal Navy that blends drone tech with warships, submarines and aircraft in the face of an increasingly aggressive and assertive Russia.
Starmer said the threat the UK faced now was “more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable than at any time since the Cold War”.
But before the weekend, defence secretary John Healey drew back the curtain to reveal a swathe of new electronic warfare initiatives – a relief to Britain’s cyber community, who were vocal last year in calling for the SDR to account for cyber security and its growing importance in warfare, as epitomised by the three-year hybrid kinetic-cyber war in Ukraine.
“Ways of warfare are rapidly changing – with the UK facing daily cyber attacks on this new frontline,” said Healey. “The hard-fought lessons from Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine leave us under no illusions that future conflicts will be won through forces that are better connected, better equipped and innovating faster than their adversaries.”
Healey said the Digital Targeting Web would enable British soldiers to pinpoint and eliminate targets quicker than ever before, drawing on lessons learned by the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom.
He said that such technology had helped Ukraine achieve a step-change in lethality early on in the conflict by enabling them to track down Russian troops, target them, and attack quickly and at scale, halting their lightning advance on Kyiv in the early spring of 2022.
Among other things, the proposed DTW will enable the armed forces to integrate across multiple domains, incorporating innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and software, and communicate better among themselves.
“We will give our armed forces the ability to act at speeds never seen before – connecting ships, aircraft, tanks and operators so they can share vital information instantly and strike further and faster,” the minister said.
More than 90,000 attacks
Meanwhile, the UK’s new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command, to be led by General Sir James Hockenhull and based at Corsham in Wiltshire, will help the Ministry of Defence (MoD) ward off the more than 90,000 “sub-threshold” cyber attacks conducted against its networks in the past two years.
The command will lead defensive cyber operations and assist the National Cyber Force at Samlesbury in Lancashire with its offensive cyber operations targeting criminals, hostile foreign powers and terrorists.
It will also harness the armed services’ existing expertise in electromagnetic warfare by enhancing the UK’s ability to degrade its enemies’ command and control systems, jam their drones or missiles, and eavesdrop on their communications channels.
The command will also help attract and develop digital talent and establish a nerve centre for future cyber capabilities in the UK – mirroring Israel’s world-renowned military-to-industry cyber pathway.
Earlier this year, the MoD unveiled plans to fast-track armed forces recruits into specialist cyber roles via a cyber direct entry programme, delivering targeted training focused on essential cyber ops skills, with full military benefits but no requirement to serve in dangerous environments or handle kinetic weaponry.
With starting salaries of over £40,000 and up to £65,000 accounting for additional skills pay, the first recruits on the programme are expected to be placed in operational cyber roles by the end of this year.
In February, the MoD also announced that armed forces recruits will be fast-tracked into specialist roles to tackle the growing cyber threat to the UK via a recruitment scheme.
Making the UK secure by design?
Palo Alto Networks’ senior director of UK policy, Carla Baker, welcomed the publication of the SDR, but said that while it acknowledged the importance of cyber as a threat, it did not fully embrace it “as an enabler”.
“The MoD needs to start embracing cyber security as an integral part of the digital ecosystem that can drive value and enable secure outcomes of transformation programmes, rather than treat it as a standalone or ‘fifth domain’,” said Baker.
“We would recommend the review embrace cyber security as part of the ‘secure by design’ ethos and approach the review through that lens.”
As part of this, Baker said, the MoD should also be looking to technologies such as post-quantum cryptography – following recently announced National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance on quantum timelines – and doing much more to address the potential and risks of AI.
She also called on the government not to go it alone. “An effective deployment of the defence capabilities outlined in the review is reliant on the MoD’s continual relationship with the industrial base. Enhanced relationships with its supply base is not just about procuring goods and services, it is also about creating strategic alliances that can drive innovation, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall security and effectiveness of defence operations,” she said.
“[The] MoD tends to take a ‘build it first’ approach and use its existing scarce resources to address a specific challenge, whereas industry may already have a solution that would suffice.”
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